Vandalising of Gen. Louis Botha's statue is an attack on nation building and social cohesion

The time has come for moderate South Africans from all communities to take hands and stand together against radicals who want to set the country alight again. People who damage and destroy statues and cultural treasures of other communities are not interested in a peaceful future for all in South Africa, Dr. Corné Mulder, the chief whip of the FF Plus says.

He says the damaging of the statue of Gen. Louis Botha in front of Parliament in Cape Town is the continuation of a very dangerous tendency. In 1933 students in Germany at 34 universities destroyed 25 000 books, manuscripts and statues of Jews.

"We all know where that episode ended. At present the Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East is doing exactly the same with the destruction of artefacts and statues of minorities in Syria and Iraq.

"It is upsetting that there is no leadership from president Zuma about this issue. The question should be asked where the DA government in Cape Town as well as the DA government in the Western Cape is. Why do they not take the lead in protecting the cultural treasures in the Western Cape which is currently being attacked by cultural terrorists?

"People committing these criminal acts find their protection in the EFF. The EFF gives itself out to be a political party. It is however a party which wants to abuse democracy precisely to destroy democracy.

"The EFF should be viewed as the revolutionary organisation that it is and its leadership should accordingly be held responsible and treated as such," Dr. Mulder says.

Regarding the Louis Botha statue in Cape Town, Dr. Mulder says it is ignorance that makes people want to do away with and damage the statue.

Following the Bambatha uprising in Natal in 1980, the British authorities incarcerated the Zulu king, Dinuzulu ka-Cetshwayo. It was a huge humiliation for the Zulus. Louis Botha was an old friend of the Zulu king and helped him in his struggle against the chief Zibhebhu.

When Louis Botha became the Prime Minister of the Union two years later, one of his first decisions was to issue an order that the Zulu king should be released immediately. He also ensured that the king was given a farm, Uitkyk, to live on. Today, the statues of Louis Botha and Dinuzulu stand next to each other in Durban in recognition of these facts. Should we erase this bit of history by removing both statues or do we learn something about struggle and reconciliation through this?

Statement issued by Dr. Corné Mulder, FF Plus Chief Whip, April 9 2015

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